Derbywire Wants To Let Creatives Sell Works Straight From Their Smartphones

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Thanks to the growth of the web in recent years and the advent of a number of startups making art- and design-focused marketplaces, the cliche of the “starving artist” may not stick around for much longer.

The latest entry into this realm is Derbywire, a startup that launched this month out of the NewMe Accelerator’s Fall 2012 class. Derbywire is creating a mobile-focused marketplace that lets people post, sell, and buy all kinds of creative works directly from their smartphones.

The definition of a “creative” that Derbywire is looking to attract here is broad: The company says it wants to host the digital work of photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and others. Derbywire takes 30 percent commission on each sale, and its marketplace will be available on both iOS and Android devices.

We sat down with Derbywire’s founder and CEO Sharron Battle earlier this month to talk a bit about what Derbywire is. Watch the video embedded above to hear her discuss how the idea came to be, what the NewMe experience brought to the company, how Derbywire is looking to move from its native Atlanta to the San Francisco Bay Area, and more.

Earlier this month, seven startups launched out of the Fall 2012 class of the NewMe Accelerator, a startup incubator program for underrepresented minorities in the tech industry. NewMe is a residential program, meaning that the founders of the startups in each class all live together in the same house in San Francisco for 12 weeks, eating, sleeping, and breathing the tech startup lifestyle. Along the way they receive mentorship from some of Silicon Valley’s most respected people as they hone their company strategies.

We had six of the seven new NewMe companies stop by TechCrunch HQ to give us their quick pitches and talk a bit about NewMe and their plans going forward (one startup was tied up in investor meetings, so had to take a pass on the press — which is always a good thing!) In a series of posts going forward, we’ll give you a look at each one of these companies. You can find them all by going to TechCrunch.com/tag/NewMeFall2012.

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OverviewDerbywire is a collective space where creativors from all walks of life can house, sell & buy digital content on the go. Imagine a marketplace with endless rows of colorful stalls. Each stall represents the owner’s tastes and style - a collection of goods for sale. You, too, can create your own stall or just browse through all the amazing stuff. Now, imagine that this place is virtual and all …